The Man in The Shed

4^th December – He’s back !

The best remedy for the feeling of disappointment following a home defeat is always another game straight away. So sitting in the Shed on a cold December evening just a few short days after “that” result against West Ham I was looking forward to another great opportunity to collect three more points. A 7.30 kick-off is certainly a rarity these days meaning I should be safely home before midnight but clearly a struggle for many to arrive much before kick-off.

So of course most of the pre-game media chatter was the return of John Terry to Chelsea. It seemed a little silly to me as the guy seems to spend half his spare time either at Cobham or in the posh seats at the Bridge. OK, so this was his first time in the away dugout but nevertheless, he’s hardly going to need directions to his seat.

The welcome was suitably impressive – just who funds all of these great big flags ? Anyway, he must have “felt the love”.

So with games coming thick and fast it seemed that four or five changes to the starting 11 was becoming the norm. In came Christensen, Kante, Willian, Azpilicueta and Abraham.

The travelling Villa fans were certainly making themselves heard in the early stages. They were even singing Abraham’s name after his successful loan spell last season !

The Villa team were set up like most away teams – compact and sitting deep but a simple cross from James found Abraham to head home. This VAR lark was destroying my ability to celebrate. I’m now holding back in fear of the dreaded reversal. This time the goal stood but it kills me every time.

The home support was very vocal in the first half, finally out singing the opposition.

As the end of the half approached our level seemed to drop – epitomised by a dodgy James back pass. And then a sloppy Villa goal – the guy somehow heading the ball onto his own feet and the ball dribbling home. This was why I had no Chelsea players in my Fantasy football team – we cannot keep a clean sheet.

So what had I picked up from the first half ? Every throw in (from both teams) seemed to take ages – had somebody pointed out that footballers have short attention spans so just by waiting 10 seconds you can gain an advantage ? Why had our level dropped after 35 minutes ? James was still putting in those great curling crosses and Mount had left his shooting boots at home.

The manager must have put the players right at the break as we were back on the offensive straight away. It took just three minutes for our second goal. Great lay off from Abraham to Mount who hit the target after several wild shots in the first half.

Cue the best comeback chants of the game. After Villa singing that Mount was “just a sh*t Jack Grealish” in the first half the Chelsea fans sang the same thing back !

The team then put together another good passage of attacking play but were unable to score again. It was bad for my nerves.

By this stage Grealish had become the pantomime villain. Following another fall to the floor we were singing “Grealish is just a sh*t Mason Mount” !

It really had become a game of Chelsea playing attack against defence until the last few minutes. 

Suddenly Villa were making a last ditch attempt at an equaliser with only a good Kepa save preventing the loss of two points.

Game over – it should never have been that close. The team need to find a ruthless streak. The return of Abraham had perhaps reminded me that we only seem to have one striker who knows where the goal is.

So another short break before a trip to Everton.